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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion

I think it is a really sad moment. I've still not fully processed the loss of Mouse trap (or Wild Mouse as you call it)(I know i need to get over it), since it was removed in the brutal way it was, no warning or send off. I get that these rides are beyond past it now but i am in my late 30s and they are memories of better times at the pleasure beach. Slowly those memories are being eroded. As much as i want to see new, innovative rides, i will still miss the older rides. I still see my younger self being shipped off to Blackpool for the day, spending a few hours in the pleasure beach and sleeping in the car on the way home because i was absolutely shattered. Honestly, i don't understand why this event has to be £50. You are pricing a lot of people out at that price. People who would genuinely turn up to say farewell to a real icon of the park. When you say farewell to Grand Prix, you are not just saying farewell to the ride, you are saying farewell to memories of families that have since passed, farewell to a childhood that is now gone, farewell to times when you didn't have a care in the world.

Farewell Grand Prix and thanks for all the memories.

On a lighter note, i will happily pay 50 groats if they bring Keith Allen back, plonk him on the bridge and get him to shout, "I'll come down there and bash you're head in" at children failing to move forward :laughing:
 
Well I am going to stick my optimistic hat on and say that Amanda will announce something positive on Friday evening.

Or at the very least drop a big hint at some future plans.

She has to , right ?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
 
Oh shakey you overoptimistic tyke.
She might lie about vague future plans, but you will end up with nothing more than a new ice show building, with a little dark ride on the side if you are very lucky.

Final memory of the ride, watching two certain large gentlemen getting stuck on one of the hills with a low battery...needed a push from the staff if I recall.
 
I wouldn’t be surprised if the park announced a great big drop tower that would be taller than Hyperia’s height so that they could say that they have the UK’s tallest ride. An Intamin drop tower like Ikaros or Hurakon Condor would be an obvious choice if so, especially if Ice Blast’s time is indeed up.

But as we all know there is a very tall record breaking drop tower out there that was removed from a US park a couple of years back. Mandy wouldn’t, would she?
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
I wouldn’t be surprised if the park announced a great big drop tower that would be taller than Hyperia’s height so that they could say that they have the UK’s tallest ride. An Intamin drop tower like Ikaros or Hurakon Condor would be an obvious choice if so, especially if Ice Blast’s time is indeed up.

But as we all know there is a very tall record breaking drop tower out there that was removed from a US park a couple of years back. Mandy wouldn’t, would she?
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That would be very exciting...yet very disappointing at the same time. It would probably be the best ride at the park, but such a cheap way to try to reclaim a record. Nothing but a coaster will do. Honestly i was looking up the old plans that Busch Gardens Williamsburg has for this "Drachen Spire" ride and immediately thought that something like that in the pleasure beach would do the trick. Quite a simple concept but gets the height record and would be the first swing launch in the UK.
 
shakey said:
Well I am going to stick my optimistic hat on and say that Amanda will announce something positive on Friday evening.

Or at the very least drop a big hint at some future plans.

She has to , right ?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Oh, I have full confidence she'll drop a vague hint about something.

Whether said hint is substantiated on anything or just the usual rambling is another matter.
 
Quick visit to BPB today, and a couple of things to report

- Chinese Puzzle Maze was closed, as the exterior was being painted
- Big One's roped cattle pen now has the end sections removed, so you don't have to walk through it entirely
- Icon ended up on one train, as one of the headlight assemblies came loose on the other. The engineers did have a solid attempt at sorting it in situ, but no such luck
- A team of gardeners were making their way around the park, and have clearly been doing so all week. Everything looking much tidier
- Infusion now has more water under it again. All the water features are still off, though
- PB Express has regained one of its temporarily absent carriages, easily spotted as it's the only red one in use

Fans of Grand Prix will be pleased to hear one of the cars was completing the circuit earlier. Unfortunately, it had three blokes pushing it. I suppose these are the problems you get when running a ride that's sat SBNO for months

School trip season has evidently started, and the park was busier today than most visits I've had this year. You never seen this coming, but I'd say operations were quite good for the most part, and the queues were relatively short. Big One on one train, but the turnstile was broken, meaning the centre bit of the station queue couldn't be used. It made the queue look longer, as it was down the ramp instead
 
The fact she is going to be there and make a speech suggests there is something she wants to let people know that comes from her directly. But on the other hand she has been quoted in news articles saying

"We’ve previously shared that we’re focused on constantly evolving and reviewing our ride offering and we look forward to being able to make some exciting announcements in future. But for now, we’re looking forward to a fabulous night of making memories of this beloved attraction for one last time."

So if anything it could only be hints at best. But you never know as it the perfect time and place to announce something

It will be interesting to see how soon they start taking Grand Prix down after the event or if it’s left until after summer and done on closed days or left until the fully closed winter period.

.
 
b2311e said:
Quick visit to BPB today, and a couple of things to report

- Chinese Puzzle Maze was closed, as the exterior was being painted
- Big One's roped cattle pen now has the end sections removed, so you don't have to walk through it entirely
- Icon ended up on one train, as one of the headlight assemblies came loose on the other. The engineers did have a solid attempt at sorting it in situ, but no such luck
- A team of gardeners were making their way around the park, and have clearly been doing so all week. Everything looking much tidier
- Infusion now has more water under it again. All the water features are still off, though
- PB Express has regained one of its temporarily absent carriages, easily spotted as it's the only red one in use

Fans of Grand Prix will be pleased to hear one of the cars was completing the circuit earlier. Unfortunately, it had three blokes pushing it. I suppose these are the problems you get when running a ride that's sat SBNO for months

School trip season has evidently started, and the park was busier today than most visits I've had this year. You never seen this coming, but I'd say operations were quite good for the most part, and the queues were relatively short. Big One on one train, but the turnstile was broken, meaning the centre bit of the station queue couldn't be used. It made the queue look longer, as it was down the ramp instead
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Grand Prix was the same last year which is probably why it closed, it has so many areas of the track that don’t pick up well that need constant repairing. Many saying if it can operate for one night they should have opened it this season. But at best with repairs it may just last for the event if they are lucky.
 
Just to back up my point about a 237ft+ Drop Tower, let's look at the facts.

1. The park stated that there is a replacement for Grand Prix, and that it will take the guest experience to "Unprecedented Heights".

This is a clear indication of a ride taller than the big one. However, it will not be a coaster as they neither have the space nor budget without removing additional rides i.e Avalanche.

Here's why:

2. The van at Thorpe Park stated "We'll just have to come up with something else then, won't we?"

Something else, not something bigger. The latter would imply a bigger coaster, the former indicating a different ride type if I'm getting into semantics.

3. Ice Blast is clearly never going to re-open. This was a tactical decision to save money ahead of announcing its replacement located where Grand Prix's spiral is.

Question: Does anyone here believe the park could physically or affordably build a coaster bigger than the big one currently to attain these unprecedented heights?

The only logical sense is that they anticipated Hyperia after it's initial announcement, decided not to waste money repairing Ice Blast and leave it SBNO for a season, and announce a new, taller attraction one Hyperia had opened to take the sting out of Thorpe Park's achievement.

I firmly believe Grand Prix and Ice Blast were on the chopping block anyway, but they've brought that forward a season or two due to Hyperia with a plan made a year or so ago to introduce the new drop tower right in the middle of the park.


Let's see if anything is said tomorrow. I don't think we will get a full announcement but anything is possible. I'd be more inclined to think they may reveal a name, logo and inclination of the ride type and leave it at that.

It would be extremely petty if they name it something like Icarus to follow Hyperia's theme. I really would not put it past Amanda.
 
One way I think Blackpool Pleasure Beach could potentially break Hyperia’s UK coaster height and speed records without simultaneously breaking the bank or the park’s space constraints would be to build a Zamperla Double Heart Coaster, or something of that ilk. Zamperla offers a 70m (~230ft) Double Heart model that reaches 81mph, so I don’t think it’s inconceivable that Zamperla could add another 10-20ft and another few mph on top of the 70m model to break the UK height and speed records.

The Zamperla Double Heart model appears both compact and affordable, which would suit Pleasure Beach well.

I don’t think it’s too likely that Pleasure Beach will try to steal Hyperia’s records, though. It would be expensive and highly space-consuming in a park tight on both money and space.

I’ve heard rumours circulating in multiple places of an Intamin Hot Racer coming to the park, if anything is coming at all. I think this sounds a lot more feasible, as it would be compact and likely reasonably small in scale and cost.
 
Isn't the tallest drop tower in the world for sale, it is the one from Orlando it did have an incident which is why it is for sale so that would be a big point against it, but it would reduce the price and it would mean bpb could get a world's tallest and uk tallest ride (it is over 400ft) but the problem is if the news get a hold of it it could be bad, and insurance probably won't be too Cheap, but a relatively new ride for relatively cheap (although wasn't the issue cause by maitanence changing the restraint sensor position)
 
Mark84 said:
Grand Prix was the same last year which is probably why it closed, it has so many areas of the track that don’t pick up well that need constant repairing. Many saying if it can operate for one night they should have opened it this season. But at best with repairs it may just last for the event if they are lucky.
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You don't do one day repairs to reinforced concrete...there is no such thing as a one day repair.
Repairs last for decades, not a one day bodge up...that would not be safe or legal.
The ride was unpopular because of very slow queues, and was often down because of charging issues.
This is all about cutting costs further, not a "big new ride" just around the corner.
Announcements could have been made by mandy at the dippers 100th, or at the opening of the season, they weren't, for good reason.
There is nothing big and new planned.
 
flyingguitar said:
Isn't the tallest drop tower in the world for sale, it is the one from Orlando it did have an incident which is why it is for sale so that would be a big point against it, but it would reduce the price and it would mean bpb could get a world's tallest and uk tallest ride (it is over 400ft) but the problem is if the news get a hold of it it could be bad, and insurance probably won't be too Cheap, but a relatively new ride for relatively cheap (although wasn't the issue cause by maitanence changing the restraint sensor position)
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The Orlando drop towers seats were tampered with to allow larger people to ride. The ride would not continue until the sensor was green, so they changed the position of this, which meant there was a gap between the seat and the harness. The did not count on the force of the ride pushing a larger person through that gap.
 
I think buying the Orlando drop tower would be bad PR. Additionally, you have to consider wind speeds at BPB. I don't think they would ever venture beyond 300ft at a maximum due to this even with a drop tower. It is bitterly cold at those heights pretty much year round except on sunny days. I can't see them going above 250ft personally.
 
Am I the only one who thinks going for the height record again is a bad idea? The sheer cost along could bankrupt the park that's not to mention issues with wind and lack of space for such a ride.

Pleasurebeech need to live within their means.
 
Relife said:
Am I the only one who thinks going for the height record again is a bad idea? The sheer cost along could bankrupt the park that's not to mention issues with wind and lack of space for such a ride.

Pleasurebeech need to live within their means.
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A drop tower wouldn't take up much space though. If they really wanted to take the height record that would be the most realistic option in my opinion.
 
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